Chrysalis couldn't believe her bad luck. First, what she thought would be an easy meal ended up slapping her across the face. Second, she met the stallion who used his love magic to evict her and her hive from Equestrian soil. Third, she just got tackled and sent flying by a massive earth pony stallion.
She was almost amazed at how much she could think of before she made contact with a tree, face first. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her head of the pretty little birdies circling it, growled and stood up and faced the stallion. Discord gasped and harrumphed in a poorly executed attempt at not laughing at the changeling queen. Big Macintosh snorted a small cloud of smoke from his nostrils and hoofed the ground impatiently.
With a victorious ”Eeeyup!”, Mac charged once again toward the changeling. Chrysalis rolled her eyes and sidestepped. Big Mac charged past her and headbutted a tree instead of harming the queen. Discord burst out laughing, slapping his knee and fell down to his back, rolling around whilst barely being able to breathe. Big Macintosh collapsed after his stylish move.
Discord looked up to see Shining Armor and Spike glaring at him. Discord sighed and snapped a claw, teleporting himself to stand next to Chrysalis. Discord cleared his throat and hesitantly gave her at pat on the back.
”You do realize that you have pretty much no chance at all with defeating us, right?” Discord raised an eyebrow. Chrysalis opened her mouth to retort, but was silenced as Discord held a claw to her lips. ”It was a rethorical question. First thing's first, I'm Discord. Spirit of Disharmony, God of Chaos and I look damn good with sunglasses.” He snapped a claw and the aforementioned headwear appeared on his face.
”That little fella over there...” Discord pointed at Spike, who crossed his arms, puffed out his chest and glared at Chrysalis. ”He's pretty much princess Celestia's son. I shouldn't have to point out the fact that he's a dragon, which means that he has quite a short fuse and he can do a nice trick with that flame of his.” Discord lowered the glasses and looked straight into Chrysalis' confused eyes. ”He can send anything to Celestia... Anything...” He whispered. ”Oh, and I should mention that the lavender unicorn you sent down in the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot is also pretty much his sister.” Chrysalis gulped at that.
”The next participant in our merry little gang is prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire.” Discord grinned. ”I believe you lovebirds have already met before in a more... Controversial setting...” Discord pointed at Big Mac, who was standing up on shaky legs. ”That freight train of a pony is Big Macintosh Apple, also known as 'Big Mac'. If you have failed to notice, he could easily find out what's in your head with a well-placed punch.”
”Alright, I give...” Chrysalis muttered and scooted away from Discord. ”I will not bother you anymore with my presence, so I shall take my leave at once.” She started walking to the treeline. She looked back over her shoulder at Discord.
”I never heard from you again afterward, Dissy...” She said with a sly smirk and disappeared into the heavy shrubbery.
”What was that about?” Spike raised an eyebrow as he asked Discord, who was whistling innocently.
”NothinginterestingreallynowcomeonwemustcontinueTALLY-HO!” Discord continued down the path at a brisk pace, not looking back at the ponies and the drake. They glanced at eachother momentarily, chuckled and followed Discord.
”Let's not tell Cadence about this...” Shining Armor begged. ”You wouldn't want to know what she said she would do to that changeling queen the moment she got her hooves on her for destroying her wedding...”
”Deal.” Spike nodded.
”Eeyup.” Big Macintosh nodded.
”Awesome.” Shining Armor smiled.
Meanwhile in the Crystal Empire palace, princess Cadence's ear flicked unvolintarily and she froze.
A guard noticed her sudden behaviour and voiced his concern. ”Your highness, is something wrong?”
Cadence blinked. ”No... Well, I don't know. It feels like something I really should know about just happened somewhere...”
As night fell, the odd group decided to set up camp next to a small creek. Discord had spawned a few tents and supplies. ”So... How long is it until we're at that temple?” Shining Armor asked. Discord ran a claw through his beard.
”Well... If we continue at the same pace as today, we should be by the temple around this time tomorrow. But in order to do that, we'd have to get going early in the morning.” Discord shrugged. ”I would recommend that we would go around half the distance left tomorrow, so we can relax and prepare ourselves to face off against that draconequus, whoever it may be...” He sighed. ”Let's just go to sleep and worry about it tomorrow...” Discord trudged into his tent, leaving the rest mildly confused.
Discord laid down and put his talons beneath his head. He hated to admit it, but he was afraid of who, or what he would be facing in the temple. He feared that the draconequus could be one of his childhood friends... He shuddered and closed his eyes, sighing. It didn't take long for him to fall into a restless sleep.
He heard somepony tap their hoof to the floor slowly. He opened his eyes and took a look around, only to see that he was in the throne room back in Canterlot. It was obviously a dream, but a strange one. ”Wait a minute... If I'm dreaming, who was tapping a hoof to the floor..?” He thought. The answer came as somepony cleared her throat and Discord gulped, coming face-to-face with nopony else than princess Luna.
'Oh crap...' Discord forced a smile. ”Well hello there, dear!” Discord looked around nervously. ”How are you here? I mean, this is my dream, right?”
”You seem to forget that I'm the princess of the night, meaning that I protect my sister and I's subjects as they sleep, helping them handle nightmares and so forth.” Luna took a daring step toward Discord and poked her hoof to his chest. ”You better have a good reason for ditching me like that after what happened...” Her ears splayed back.
'Dammit, I knew that I forgot something...' Discord thought bitterly. ”Don't you worry, Luna. I got this under control. I translated the text on the note that was in Era's room. Her foalnapper wanted to get to me by taking from us... And to make things worse, the one who sent it is a draconequus like me, possibly with the same strength as me or possibly stronger then me...” Discord sighed. ”It's currently waiting for me at the Temple of The Matrina.”
”Where is that exactly?” Luna asked, ”I will dispatch a unit of my lunar guard and join them on their way to you.”
”No!” Discord raised his voice without even noticing it. ”You will stay in Canterlot, because this is my mistake. I pulled Era into this mess, and I intend to face what I have done, only so I can save my daughter... I don't know what could happen... I just...” Discord wrapped his talons around Luna, who started stroking his short mane in an effort to calm him down. ”I just can't lose any of you again...”
”It's okay...” Luna hugged him back. ”I'll stay in Canterlot and do the best I can to keep you updated of what's going on in our end, as long as you stay in touch with us. All you need is some kind of paper and Spike can send it directly to Celestia.”
”That's good to know. I promise that I'll let you know as soon as I get Era back.” Discord nodded.
”So, did anything interesting happen on your way there?” Luna asked. ”Have you encountered some kind of monster or anything like that?”
Discord's eyes shifted from side to side. ”Uh... No. We've been lucky so far, we haven't been attacked or attacked any monster. Nope.” He scrunched his nose.
Luna's eyes narrowed. ”I get a feeling that you're not being completely honest with me right now, Discord... Is it something you want to tell me right now?” She took a step forward and Discord gulped.
”You see, I really should get some proper sleep now before we head out again tomorrow early in the morning... ” Discord smiled sheepishly. ”So... I'm gonna go ahead and take my leave now. I'll keep you and the rest back in Canterlot updated on our progress as we go! Ciao!” After giving Luna a peck on the cheek, Discord faded away.
Luna sighed and her ears fell back. ”Be careful, Discord...” She closed her eyes and focused her magic, taking herself back to Canterlot where she would continue her duties.